Character Building for Families: A Review

One of the deep desires of mothers everywhere is for their children to grow to be good people.  While sometimes we get sidetracked with physical success or failure, at the end of the day we pray that their character will be what shines about them.  The tricky part of that is that good hearts need cultivating and maintenance.  Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you a couple of books that can help your family be intentional with building up those hearts with virtue and character - Character Building for Families, Volume I & II by Lee Ann Rubsam.  









Character Building for Families is a two volume spiral-bound set of topical Bible studies designed for families or small groups.  Volume I covers 12 character traits and Volume II covers only 5, but at length.  While every topic stands alone and accessible in any order, Volume II's topics are not as easily grasped by young children.  Virtues like Stewardship and Mercy in depth are better suited for older kids, whereas Obedience and Diligence are vital concepts earlier on.

The remarkableness of these studies is really in their simplicity.  There is not a large amount of devotional material, but rather wisely placed questions and scriptures to memorize.  The author's intent was to ensure that all of these character traits were given adequate time and study, but it certainly allows the parent/teacher to include their own illustrations or examples.  In some ways, it is more like an outline than anything else.  Each lesson is divided up into days and may last anywhere from 5 days to over 2 months, depending on the topic, but if we had the time more than one day's lesson could be covered in a day. 
The author, Lee Ann Rubsam, home schooled her children for 25 years, until they reached adulthood. Character Building for Families was originally written for her family. She continues to mentor younger home school mothers through social media and writing, including The Character Building for Families Blog.



As my oldest inches closer to double-digits, I am growing increasingly aware of the fear of missing something before it's too late. Character Building for Families is a great framework to facilitate all those important conversations!